Individualized medicine for renal cell carcinoma: establishment of primary cell line culture from surgical specimens.
BACKGROUND
The lack of effective "in vivo" and "in vitro" models to predict success of pharmacological therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma, as well as, the variety of cancer cell types demands the development of better experimental models to understand the pathophysiology of the disease and evaluate drug sensitivity in vitro.


OBJECTIVE
To develop primary renal cancer cell culture irrespective of tumor grade and tumor type, harvested from the patient's pathological specimen immediately after the laparoscopic radical nephrectomy to study potential "in vivo" pharmacological sensitivity.


METHODS
A total of 24 patients (17 males and 7 females). Mean age of 63.1+/-3.1 y.o. The mean size of the renal masses was 7.56+/-3.1 cm. Normal and pathological renal tissue was collected immediately after the specimen was extracted and submitted to enzymatic digestion for 16-24 hours. Clear cell carcinoma cells were selected through multiple passages in DMEM medium supplemented with glucose and antibiotics.


RESULTS
Establishment of cell line culture from all the patients' specimens irrespective of tumor grade and tumor type was achieved successfully. In addition to the tumor cell line culture, normal parenchyma tissue yielded primary cell lines to allow testing the response of tumor types to various pharmacological therapeutic agents and toxicity of such treatments to healthy tissue. From the initial collection of the specimens obtained after the removal of the kidney to the development of cell lines took occurred in average 32+6 hrs. The cells in culture showed characteristics of epithelial cells; like expression on cytokeratin and were maintained in culture for more than 20 passages.


CONCLUSIONS
The development of renal cancer cell cultures in vitro is labor intense but may yield a more realistic model to tailor pharmacological therapies and predict therapeutic success prior to "in vivo" application-a step in the direction of individualized medicine for RCC.
Kim
Fernando J
FJ
Signal Transduction and Molecular Urology Laboratory, Program in Urosciences, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO 80204, USA. Fernando.kim@dhha.org
Campagna
Adriano
A
Khandrika
Lakshmipathi
L
Koul
Sweaty
S
Byun
Seok-Soo
SS
vanBokhoven
Adrie
A
Moore
Ernest E
EE
Koul
Hari
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D002469:Cell Separation; D015510:Clinical Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor